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The bill improves buyer and lender recognition of home energy features and increases transparency—potentially raising values for efficient homes—but imposes compliance, training, privacy, and operational burdens that could raise costs or slow transactions for homeowners and lenders.
Homeowners and prospective homebuyers get the right to request and receive a free property energy report and must be told about that right, improving information available during purchase and refinance decisions.
Homes with energy-efficiency or renewable-energy features will be explicitly considered in appraisals and lenders must rely on qualified appraiser valuations, which can increase appraised values for efficient homes and create more consistent underwriting decisions.
Standardizing appraisal consideration of energy information and creating agency guidance and an advisory committee should improve how energy improvements are valued over time and help market recognition of these features.
Lenders and mortgage systems must update underwriting and appraisal workflows by March 1, 2026, imposing compliance costs that may be passed on to borrowers through higher fees or interest.
Appraisers will need additional continuing education and must consider new energy-related factors, which could reduce available appraiser supply in some markets or increase appraisal turnaround times and fees.
Expanding data-sharing of energy reports to appraisers requires borrower consent and new data protocols, raising privacy, administrative burden, and potential friction for homeowners.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires lenders to disclose energy-report rights, share energy reports with appraisers, and have appraisers consider those reports when valuing homes; lenders must use the appraised value in underwriting.
Requires lenders to give borrowers a written notice about their rights to obtain and share home energy reports and requires lenders and appraisers to consider such energy information when valuing properties for covered mortgage loans. Starting March 1, 2026, creditors must furnish any available energy report (with borrower consent) to a qualified appraiser, use the appraiser’s value when underwriting, and provide borrowers a free copy of the energy report on request. Federal housing agencies must issue joint implementation guidance after consulting an advisory committee to confirm acceptable valuation approaches and procedures for disclosures and report sharing, while preserving appraiser judgment on how report information affects market value.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Sean Casten · Last progress March 27, 2025